A. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to systems for tracking items inside a predetermined area and more particularly to an item tracking system for controlling the inventory of items inside a portable container such as, but not limited to, tool boxes.
B. Description of the Related Art
There are certain industries such as the aeronautic industry, arms industry, jewelry industry, hospitals, etc. which requires the employees to manipulate and manage many valuable, important or dangerous items such as tools, jewels, medicines which have to be carefully controlled and tracked. Sometimes, it is necessary to store these items in portable containers (for example tool boxes) so that the employees can take the items where needed and accordingly, only the employees that are authorized to have access or to use certain items contained in a portable container are allowed to take the container with them for a predetermined period of time. The portable containers are associated with a base. During such period of time, the employee is fully responsible for the portable container and its contents.
Furthermore, if any item is lost, the loss is detected only when the portable container returns to its base and the contents thereof are verified. Normally at such time, the lost item may represent a danger for the facility, for example, the item may be lost in an industrial environment in which any non controlled item may cause an accident or in a medical environment in which the lost of an item, for example an scalpel, represents a contingency which should be detected immediately since the item may have been left inside a patient's body during surgery. In the case of jewelry, lost jewelry represents a financial loss and a perhaps an indication of a security problem.
US patent application No. 20080059338 of Hubbard, describes a method and an apparatus for portable container inventory for electronically inventorying an electronically locked and unlocked portable container before and after REID (Radio Frequency IDentification) tagged tools are accessed by an authorized user. A record of tools added and/or removed along with the identity of the accessing user is generated and stored. At any desired time, a record may be generated of tagged tools in the portable container or, alternatively, a list of tagged tools missing from assigned positions in the portable container.
The method disclosed in US patent application No. 20080059338 comprises reading a close proximity user RFID tag in association with a given portable container as a first event; comparing data obtained from the user RFID tag at the first event with users authorized to access the given portable container; preparing a first inventory list of all presently readable tools initially in the portable container; reading a close proximity user RFID tag in association with the given portable container, after closure of the given portable container, as a second event; preparing a second inventory list of all presently readable tools remaining in the given portable container; and transmitting a record indicative of the difference between the first and second inventory lists to a database for storage along with an indication of the user that caused the change in portable container inventory. In addition to the foregoing, other method aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the patent application.
Furthermore, the system disclosed in US patent application No. 20080059338 comprises an electronically lockable portable container that includes a plurality of RFID (radio frequency identification) tagged tools stored ill the electronically lockable portable container, each of the RFID tagged tools having an RFID tag operating as an identifier for each of the tools; a first RFID reader mounted on the electronic ally lockable portable container the first RFID reader is adapted to read RFID tags for each of the tools to determine tools added as well as tools removed by an authorized user between an event signifying an unlocking and opening of the portable container and al event signifying a complete closure and locking of the portable container, the first REID reader reading and recording the RFID tag for each of the tool s which the authorized user removed from and/or added to the electronically lockable portable container; a close proximity second RFID reader mounted on the electronically lockable portable container, the close proximity second RFID reader being adapted to read a user supplied RFID device; and all identification device having a radio frequency identification device imbedded therein, the identification device configured to enable a portable container user to identify the user as an individual authorized to remove one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged tools from and/or add one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged tools to the electronically lockable portable container.
The portable container is configured with a plurality of receptacles wherein at least some of the receptacles conforms to the shape of given RFID tagged tools; an electronically controlled lock coupled to the portable container, the electronically controlled lock configured to activate while the portable container is in a closed condition, the electronically controlled lock further configured to secure tools in the portable container and operable when deactivated to allow access to the given RFID tagged tools in the portable container; a first RFID reader coupled to the portable container, the first RFID reader configured to read each of the given RFID tagged tools in the portable container; a user identifier operable to generate a first event signal that an identified user wishes to access the contents of the portable container and to generate a second event signal when the identified user wishes to close and secure access to the contents of the portable container; and logic means, electrically connected to the electronically controlled lock, the first RFID reader and the user identifier, the logic means configured to (a) initiate a scan of a one or more tagged tools in the portable container upon receipt of the first event signal, (b) record the identity of the identified user initiating the first event signal, (c) generate a first list of the one or more tagged tools detected in the portable container, (d) deactivate the lock means whereby the one or more tagged tools in the portable container may be accessed, (e) activate the lock whereby the one or more tagged tools in the portable container may no longer be accessed upon receipt of the second event signal, (f) initiate a second scan of the one or more tagged tools in the portable container, (g) record the identity of the user initiating the second event signal, (h) generate a second list of the one or more tagged tools detected in the portable container, and (i) generate, after comparing the first and second list, a record of the one or more tagged tools removed and/or added to the portable container between the first and second event signals.
The method and system disclosed in Hubbard's patent application obtains an inventory of tools between an event signifying an unlocking and opening of the portable container and an event signifying a complete closure and locking of the portable container, but it is not capable of registering taking and returning operations during the time the portable container is opened. Furthermore, Hubbard discloses the use of two RFID readers: one for reading RFID tags for each of the tools and one for reading a user supplied RFID device.
Since there is only one RFID reader for reading all of the RFID tags for each of the tools, the system has no means for registering when the item is being returned to a respective receptacle, which is relevant for some working environments, especially when there are two or more identical items and one or more of them require maintenance since a worker may take an inoperable item that should not be stored in an specific receptacle.